REPUBLIC ACTS

Section 1. This
Act shall be known as the Charter of the City of Tacloban.

ARTICLE I
General Provisions

Sec. 2. Territory of the City of Tacloban. — The
City of Tacloban, which is hereby created, shall comprise the present
territorial jurisdiction of the municipality of Tacloban in the
Province of Leyte.

Sec. 3. Corporate character of the city. — The
City of Tacloban constitutes a political body corporate and is endowed
with the attribute of perpetual succession and possessed of the powers
which pertain to a municipal corporation to be exercised in conformity
with the provisions of this Charter.

Sec. 4. Seal and general powers of the city. — The
city shall have a common seal, and may alter the same at pleasure. It
may take, purchase, receive, hold, lease, convey, and dispose of real
and personal property for the general interests of the city, condemn
private property for public use, contract and be contracted with, sue
and be sued, prosecute and defend to final judgment and execution
wherein said city is a party, and exercise all the powers hereinafter
conferred.

Sec. 5. Jurisdiction of the city. — The
jurisdiction of the City of Tacloban for police purposes shall be
coextensive with its territorial jurisdiction, and shall extend to
three miles from the shore into San Juanico Strait and the Pacific
Ocean and for the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity of the
water supply of the city, such police jurisdiction shall also extend
over all territory within the drainage area of such water supply, or
within one hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal, aqueduct or
pumping station used in connection with the city water service.

ARTICLE II
The Mayor

Sec. 6. The Mayor. — The Mayor shall be elected at
large by the qualified voters of the city. He shall be at least thirty
years of age, a resident of the city at least five years prior to his
election, and a qualified voter therein: Provided, That the first
election for Mayor shall be held at the general election for provincial
and municipal officials next following the approval of this Act. He
shall hold office for four years, unless sooner removed for just cause
and with due process of law.

He shall receive a salary of not exceeding four thousand pesos per
annum. With the approval of the President of the Philippines the Mayor
may be provided, in addition to his salary, a non-commutable allowance
of not exceeding two thousand pesos per annum.

Sec. 7. The vice-mayor. — There shall be a
vice-mayor who shall perform the duties of the Mayor, in the event of
the sickness, absence or other temporary incapacity of the Mayor, or in
the event of a definite vacancy in the position of Mayor, until said
office shall be filled, in accordance with law. If, for any reason, the
vice-mayor is temporarily incapacitated for the performance of the
duties of the office of the Mayor, or said office of the vice-mayor is
vacant, the duties of the Mayor shall be performed by the city
engineer. The acting mayor shall have the same powers and duties as the
Mayor.

The vice-mayor shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to
him by the Mayor or prescribed by law or ordinance. He shall be elected
in the same manner as the Mayor and shall at the time of his election
possess the same qualifications as the Mayor. He shall receive a salary
of not exceeding one thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.

Sec. 8. General powers and duties of the Mayor. —
Unless otherwise provided by law, the Mayor shall have immediate
control over the executive and administrative functions of the
different departments of the city, subject to the authority and
supervision of the President. He shall have the following general
powers and duties:

(a) To comply with and enforce and give the necessary
orders for the faithful enforcement and execution of the provisions of
this Charter and other laws and ordinances in effect within the
jurisdiction of the city.

(b) To safeguard all the lands, buildings, records,
moneys, credits, and other property and rights of the city, and,
subject to the provisions of the Charter, have control over all its
property.

(c) To see that all taxes and other revenues of the
city are collected, and applied in accordance with appropriations to
the payment of the municipal expenses.

(d) To cause to be instituted judicial proceedings to
recover property and funds of the city wherever found, to cause to be
defended all suits against the city, and otherwise to protect the
interests of the city.

(e) To see that the executive officers and employees
of the city properly discharge their respective duties.

(f) To examine and inspect the books, records, and
papers of all officers, agents, and employees of the city over whom he
has executive supervision and control at least twice a year, and
whenever occasion arises. For this purpose he shall be provided by the
Municipal Board with such clerical or other assistance as may be
necessary.

(g) To give such information and recommend such
measures to the Board as he shall deem advantageous to the city.

(h) To represent city in all its business matters and
sign in its behalf all its bonds, contracts, and obligations made in
accordance with law or ordinance.

(i) To submit to the Municipal Board at least two
months before the beginning of each fiscal year a budget of receipts
and expenditures of the city.

(j) To receive, hear and decide as he may deem proper
the petitions, complaints, and claims of the residents concerning all
classes of municipal matters of an administrative or executive
character.

(k) To grant or refuse, municipal licenses or permits
of all classes and to revoke the same for violation of the conditions
upon which they were granted, or if acts prohibited by law or municipal
ordinance are being committed under the protection of such licenses or
in the premises in which the business for which the same have been
granted is carried on, or for any other good reason of general interest.

(l) To exempt, with the concurrence of the division
superintendent of schools, deserving poor pupils from the payment of
school fees or of any part thereof.

(m) To take such emergency measures as may be
necessary to avoid fires and floods and to mitigate the effects of
storms and public calamities.

(n) To submit an annual report to the President of
the Philippines.

(o) To perform such other duties and exercise such
other executive powers as may be prescribed by law or ordinances.

Sec. 9. Secretary to the Mayor. — The Mayor shall
appoint one secretary who shall hold office at the pleasure of the
Mayor and who shall receive a compensation, to be fixed by ordinance
approved by the President of the Philippines, at not exceeding one
thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.
The secretary shall have charge and custody of all records and
documents of the city and of any office or department thereof for which
provision is not otherwise made; shall keep the corporate seal and
affix the same with his signature to all ordinances and resolutions
signed by the Mayor and to all other official documents and papers of
the government of the city as may be required by law or ordinance;
shall attest all executive orders, proclamations, ordinances, and
resolutions signed by the Mayor; shall, upon request, furnish certified
copies of all city records and documents in his charge which are not of
a confidential character and shall charge twenty centavos for each one
hundred words including the certificate, such fees to be paid directly
to the City Treasurer; and shall perform such other duties as the Mayor
may require of him.

ARTICLE III
The Municipal Board

Section 10. Constitution and organization of the
Municipal Board — Compensation of members thereof . — The Municipal
Board shall be the legislative body of the city and shall be composed
of eight councilors, who shall be elected at large by popular vote
during every election for provincial and municipal officials in
conformity with the provisions of the Revised Election Code. The Board
at its first meeting each year shall elect from among themselves its
presiding officer who shall receive fifteen pesos for each day of
attendance of the session of the Board. The said presiding officer
shall only vote in case of a tie. In case of sickness absence,
suspension or other temporary disability of any member of the Board, or
if necessary to maintain a quorum, the President of the Philippines may
appoint a temporary substitute belonging to the same political party,
who shall possess all the rights and perform all the duties of a member
of the Board until the return to duty of the regular incumbent.

If any member of the Municipal Board should be a candidate for office
in any election, he shall be disqualified to act with the Board in the
discharge of the duties conferred upon it relative to election matters,
and in such case the other members of the Board shall discharge said
duties without his assistance, or they may choose some disinterested
elector of the city to act with the Board in such matters in his stead.

The members of the Municipal Board shall receive a per diem in such
amount as may be fixed by ordinance but in no case to exceed fifteen
pesos for each day of attendance of the sessions of the Board.

Section 11. Qualifications, suspension and removal of
members of Board. — The members of the Municipal Board shall be
qualified electors of the city, residents therein for at least one
year, and not less than twenty-three years of age. Upon qualifying, the
members-elect shall assume office on the date fixed in the Revised
Election Code until their successors are elected and have qualified.

The members of the Municipal Board may be suspended or removed from
office under the same circumstances, in the same manner, and with the
same effect, as elective provincial officers, and the provisions of law
providing for the suspension or removal of elective provincial officers
are hereby made effective for the suspension or removal of said members
of the Board.

Vacancies in the Municipal Board shall be filled in accordance with the
provisions of the Revised Elections Code.

Section 12. Appointments, salary and duties of
secretary of Board. — The Board shall have a secretary who shall be
appointed by it to serve during the term of office of the members
thereof. The compensation of the secretary shall be fixed by ordinance,
approved by the President of the Philippines, at not exceeding one
thousand eight hundred pesos per annum. A vacancy in the office of the
secretary shall be filled temporarily for the unexpired term in like
manner.

The secretary shall be in charge of the records of the Municipal Board.
He shall keep a full record of the proceedings of the Board, and file
all documents relating, thereto; shall record, in a book kept for that
purpose, all ordinances, and all resolutions and motions directing the
payment of the money or creating liability, enacted or adopted by the
Board, with the dates of passage of the same and of the publication of
ordinances; shall keep a seal, circular in form, with the inscription
"Municipal Board — City of Tacloban," and affix the same, with his
signature, to all ordinances and other official acts of the Board, and
shall present the same for signature to the presiding officer of the
Board; shall cause each ordinance to be published as herein provided;
shall, upon request, furnish copies of all records of public character
in his charge under the seal of his office and charge twenty centavos
for each one hundred words including the certificate, the fees to be
paid directly to the city treasurer; and shall keep his office and all
records therein which are not of a confidential character open to
public inspection during usual business hours.

Section 13. Method of transacting business by the
Board. — Veto; authentication and publication of ordinances. — Unless
the President of the Philippines orders otherwise, the Board shall hold
one ordinary session for the transaction of business during each week
on a day which it shall fix by resolution, and such extraordinary
sessions, not exceeding thirty during any one year, as may be called by
the Mayor. It shall sit with open doors, unless otherwise ordered by an
affirmative vote of the members. It shall keep a record of its
proceedings and determine its rules of procedure not herein set forth.
Five members of the Board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
of business. But a smaller number may adjourn from day to day and may
compel the immediate attendance of any member absent without good cause
by issuing to the police of the city an order for his arrest and
production at the session under such penalties as shall have been
previously prescribed by ordinance. Five affirmative votes shall be
necessary for the passage of any ordinance, or of any resolution or
motion directing the payment of money or creating liability, but any
other measure shall prevail upon the majority votes of the members
present at any meeting duly called and held. The ayes and nays shall be
taken and recorded upon the passage of all ordinances, upon all
resolutions or motions directing the payment of money or creating
liability, and, at the request of any member, upon any other resolution
or motion. Each approved ordinance, resolution or motion shall be
sealed with the seal of the Board, signed by the presiding officer and
the secretary of the Board and recorded in a book kept for the purpose,
and shall, on the day following its passage, be posted by the secretary
at the main entrance to the City Hall, and shall take effect and be in
force on and after the tenth day following its passage unless otherwise
stated in said ordinance, resolution or motion or vetoed by the Mayor
as hereinafter provided. A vetoed ordinance, if repassed, shall take
effect ten days after the veto is overriden by the required votes
unless otherwise stated in the ordinance or again disapproved by the
Mayor within said time.

Each ordinance and each resolution or motion directing the payment of
money or creating liability enacted or adopted by the Board shall be
forwarded to the Mayor for his approval. Within ten days after the
receipts of the ordinance, resolution, or motion, the Mayor shall
return it with his approval or veto. If he does not return it within
that time, it shall be deemed to be approved. If he returns it with his
veto, his reasons therefor in writing shall accompany it. It may then
be again enacted by the affirmative votes of six members of the Board,
and again forwarded to the Mayor for his approval, and if within ten
days after its receipt he does not again return it with his veto, it
shall be deemed to be approved. If within said time he again returns if
with his veto, it shall be forwarded to the President of the
Philippines for his approval or disapproval, which shall be final. The
Mayor shall have the power to veto any particular item or items of an
appropriation ordinance, or of an ordinance, resolution or motion
directing the payment of money or creating liability, but the veto
shall not affect the item or items to which he does not object. The
item or items objected to shall not take effect except in the manner
heretofore provided in this section as to ordinances, resolutions, and
motions returned to the Board with his veto, but should an item or
items in an appropriation ordinance be disapproved by the Mayor, the
corresponding item or items in the appropriation ordinance of the
previous year shall be deemed restored unless otherwise expressly
directed in the veto.

Section 14. General powers and duties of the Board. —
Except as otherwise provided by law, and subject to the conditions and
limitations thereof, the Municipal Board shall have the following
legislative powers:

(a) To provide for the levy and collection of taxes
for general and special purposes in accordance with law including
specifically the power levy real property tax to exceed two per centum
ad valorem.

(b) To make all appropriations for the expenses of
the government of the city.

(c) To fix with the approval of the Department Head
the number and salaries of officials and employees of the city not
otherwise provided for in this Act.

(d) To authorize with the approval of the Department
Head the free distribution of medicines to the employees and laborers
of the city whose salary or wage does not exceed sixty pesos per month
or two pesos and fifty centavos per day; and of fresh or evaporated
native milk to indigent mothers residing in the city and of bread and
light meals to indigent children of ten years or less of age residing
in the city, the distribution to be made under the direct supervision
and control of the Mayor.

(e) To fix the tariff of fees and charges for all
services rendered by the city or any of its department, branches or
officials.

(f) To provide for the erection and maintenance or
the rental of the necessary buildings for the use of the city.

(g) To establish and maintain schools as provided by
law and, with the approval of the Director of Public Schools, to fix
reasonable tuition fees for instruction therein.

(h) To establish ord in the establishment and
maintenance of vocational schools and institutions of higher learning
conducted by the National Government or any of its subdivisions and
agencies; and, with the approval of the Director of Public Schools, to
fix reasonable tuition fees for instruction in the vocational schools
and in those higher educational institutions supported by the city.

(i) To provide for and maintain an efficient police
force and make all necessary police ordinances, with a view to the
confinement and reformation of vagrants, disorderly persons,
mendicants, prostitutes, and persons convicted of violating any of the
ordinances of the city.

(j) To provide for and maintain an efficient fire
force and provide engine houses, fire engines, hose trucks, hooks and
ladders, and other equipment for the prevention and extinguishment of
fires, and to regulate the management and use of the same.

(k) To establish fire zones, determine the kinds of
buildings or structures that may be erected within their limits,
regulate the manner of constructing and repairing the same, fix the
fees for permits for the construction, repair, or demolition of
buildings and structures.

(l) To regulate the use of lights in stables, shops,
and other buildings and places and to regulate and restrict the
issuance of permits for the building of bonfires and the use of
firecrackers, fireworks, skyrockets, and other pyrotechnic display, and
to fix the fees for such permits.

(m) To make regulations to protect the public from
conflagration and to prevent and mitigate the effects of famine,
floods, storms, and other public calamities, and provide relief for
persons suffering from same.

(o) To tax and fix the license fees on dealers in new
automobiles or accessories or both, and retail dealers in new
merchandise, which dealers, are not yet subject to the payment of any
municipal tax. For the purpose of taxation, those retail dealers shall
be classified as (A) retail dealers in general merchandise, and (B)
retail dealers exclusively engaged in the sale of (a) textiles
including knitted goods, (b) hardware, including glasswares, cooking
utensils, electrical goods and construction materials, (c) groceries,
including toilet articles except perfumery, (d) drugs, including
medicines and perfumeries, (e) books, including stationery, paper, and
office supplies, (f) jewelry, (g) slippers, (h) arms, ammunitions, and
sporting goods.

(p) To tax, fix the license fee for, regulate the
business and fix the location of, match factories, blacksmith shops,
foundries, steam boilers, lumberyards, shipyards, the storage and sale
of gunpowder, tar, pitch, resin, coal, oil, gasoline, benzine,
turpentine, hemp, cotton, nitroglycerine, petroleum, or any of the
products thereof, and of all other highly combustible or explosive
materials, and other establishments likely to endanger the public
safety or give rise to conflagrations or explosions, and, subject to
the rules and regulations issued by the Director of Health in
accordance with law, tanneries, renderies, tallow chandleries,
embalmers and funeral parlors, bone factories, and soap factories.

(q) To impose tax on draft animals, animal drawn and
other vehicles, except self-propelled and motor-drawn vehicles:
Provided, that all automobiles and trucks belonging to the National
Government or to any provincial or municipal government and automobiles
and trucks not regularly kept in the city shall be exempt from the such
tax.

(r) To regulate the method of using steam engines and
boilers, and all other motive powers other than marine or belonging to
the Government of the Philippines; to provide for the inspection
thereof and for a reasonable fee for such inspection, and to regulate
and to fix the fees for the licenses of the engineers engaged in
operating the same.

(s) To enact ordinances for the maintenance and
preservation of peace and good morals.

(t) To regulate and fix the license fees the keeping
of dogs, to authorize their impounding and destruction when running at
largest, contrary to ordinances, and to tax and regulate the keeping or
training of fighting cocks.

(u) To establish and maintain municipal pounds; to
regulate, restrain, and prohibit the running at large of domestic
animals, and provide for the destraining impounding and sale of the
same for the penalty incurred, and the cost of the proceedings; and to
impose penalties upon the owners of said animals for the violation of
any ordinance in relation thereto.

(v) To prohibit and provide for the punishment of
cruelty to animals.

(w) To regulate the inspection, weighing, and
measuring of brick, lumber, coal, and other articles of merchandise

(x) To regulate and fix the license for the
establishment or operation of dance halls, cabarets, and cockpits.

(y) Subject to the provisions of existing laws, to
provide for the laying out, construction, and improvement, and to
regulate the use, of streets, avenues, alleys, sidewalks, wharves,
piers, parks, cemeteries, and other public places; to provide for
lighting, cleaning, and sprinkling or streets and public places; to
regulate, fix license fees for, and prohibit the use of the same for
processions, signs, signposts, awnings, awning posts, the carrying or
displaying of banners, placards, advertisements, or hand bills, or the
flying of signs, flags, or banners, whether along, across, over or from
buildings along the same; to prohibit the placing, throwing,
depositing, or leaving of obstacles of any kind, offal, garbage, refuse
or other offensive matter or matters liable to cause damage, in the
streets and other public places, and to provide for the collection and
disposition thereof; to provide for the inspection of, fix the license
fee for, and regulate the openings in the same for the laying of gas,
water, sewer, and other pipes, the buildings and repair of tunnels,
sewers, and drains, and all structures in and under the same, and the
erecting of poles and the stringing of wires therein; to provide for
and regulate cross-walks, curbs, and gutters, therein; the name streets
without a name and provide for and regulate the numbering of houses and
lots fronting thereon or in the interior of the blocks; to regulate
traffic and sales upon the streets and other public places; to provide
for the abatement of nuisances in the same and punish the authors or
owners thereof; to provide for the construction and maintenance, and
regulate the use, of bridges viaducts, and culverts; to prohibit or
regulate ball playing kite flying, hoop rolling, and other amusements
which may annoy persons using the streets and public places, or
frighten horses or other animals; to regulate the speed of horses and
other animals, motor and other vehicles cars, and locomotives within
the limits of the city; to regulate the locating, constructing, and
laying of the track of electric and other forms of railroad in the
streets or other public places of the city authorized by law; unless
otherwise provided by law, to provide for and change the location,
grade, and crossing of railroads, and to compel any such railroad to
raise or lower its tracks to conform to such provisions or changes; and
to require railroad companies to fence their property, or any part
thereof, and to construct and repair ditches, drains, sewers, and
culverts along and under their tracks, so that the natural drainage of
the streets and adjacent property shall not be obstructed.

(z) To provide for the construction and maintenance
of, and regulate the navigation on, canals, and water courses, within
the city and provide for the clearing and purification of the same;
unless otherwise provided by law, to provide for the construction and
maintenance, and regulate the use, of public landing places, wharves,
piers, docks and levees, and of those of private ownership; and to
provide for or regulate the drainage and filling of private premises
when necessary in the enforcement of sanitary rules and regulations
issued in accordance with law.

(aa) Subject to the provisions of the Public Service
Law, to fix the charges to be paid by all watercraft landing at or
using public wharves, docks, levees, or landing places owned, operated
managed, or controlled by the city.

(bb) To provide for the maintenance of waterworks for
the purpose of supplying water to the inhabitants of the city, and for
the purification of the source of supply and the places through which
the same passes, and to regulate the consumption and use of water; to
fix, subject to the provisions of the Public Services Law, and provide
for the collection of rents therefore; and to regulate the
construction, repair, and use of hydrants, pumps, cisterns, and
reservation.

(cc) To provide for the establishment and maintenance
and regulate the use, of public drains, sewers, latrines, and
cesspools.

(dd) Subject to the rules and regulations issued by
Director of Health in accordance with law, to provide for the
establishment, maintenance and regulation and fix the fees for the use
of public stables, laundries and baths, and public markets and prohibit
the establishment or operation within the city limits of public markets
by any person, entity, association, or corporation other than the city.

(ee) To establish or authorize the establishment of
slaughterhouses, to provide for their veterinary or sanitary
inspection, to regulate the use of the same, and to charge reasonable
slaughter fees. No fees shall be charged for veterinary or sanitary
inspection of meat from large cattle or other domestic animals
slaughtered outside the city, when such inspection was had at the place
where the animals were slaughtered.

(ff) To regulate, inspect, and provide measures
preventing any discrimination or the exclusion of any race or races in
or from any institutions, establishment, or service open to the public
within the city limits; to regulate and provide for the inspection of
all gas, electric, telephone, and street-railway conduits, mains,
meters, and other apparatus, and provide for the condemnation,
substitution, or removal of the same when defective or dangerous.

(gg) To declare, prevent, and provide for the
abatement of nuisances; to regulate the ringing of bells and the making
of loud or unusual noises; to provide that owners, agents, or tenants
of buildings or premises keep and maintain the same in sanitary
condition, and that, in case of failure to do so after sixty days from
the date of serving a written notice, the cost thereof to be assessed
to the owner to the extent of not exceed sixty per centum of the
assessed value, which cost shall constitute a lien against the
property; and to regulate or prohibit or fix the license fees for the
use of property or near public ways, grounds, or places, or elsewhere
within the city, for a display of electric signs or the erection or
maintenance of billboards or structures of whatever materials erected,
maintained, or used for the display of posters, signs or other
pictorial or reading matter, except signs displayed at the place or
places where the profession or business advertised thereby is in whole
or part conducted.

(hh) To provide for the enforcement of the rules and
regulations issued by the Director of Health, and by ordinance to
prescribe penalties for violations of such rules and regulations.

(ii) To extend its ordinance over all waters within
the city, over any boat or other floating structures thereon and, for
the purpose of protecting and insuring the purity of the water supply
of the city, over all territory within the drainage area of such water
supply, and within the hundred meters of any reservoir, conduit, canal,
aqueduct, or pumping station used in connection with city water
service.

(jj) To tax, fix the license fee for, and regulate
the sale, trading in or disposal of, alcoholic or malt beverages,
wines, and mixed or fermented liquor including tuba, basi, tapuy,
offered for retail sale.

(kk) To regulate any other business or occupation not
specially mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, and to imposed a
license fee upon all persons engaged in the same or who enjoy
privileges in the city.

(ll) To grant fishing and fishery privileges subject
to the provisions of the Fisheries Act.

(mm) To fix the date of the holding of a fiesta in
the city not oftener than once a year and to alter, not oftener than
once in three years, the date fixed for the celebration thereof.

(nn) To enact all ordinances it may deem necessary
and proper for the sanitation and safety, the furtherance of the
prosperity, and the promotion of the morality, peace, good order,
comfort, convenience, and general welfare of the city and its
inhabitants, and such others as may be necessary to carry into effect
and discharge the powers and duties conferred by this Act, and to fix
the penalties for the violation of ordinances, which shall not exceed a
two hundred-peso fine or six months' imprisonment, or both, such fine
and imprisonment, for a single offense.

Section 15. Restrictive provisions. — No commercial
sign, signboard, or billboard shall be erected or displayed on public
lands, premises, or buildings. If after the investigation, and having
given the owners an opportunity to be heard, the Mayor shall decide
that any sign, signboard, or billboard displayed or exposed to public
view is offensive to the sight or is otherwise a nuisance, he may order
the removal, of such sign, signboard, or billboard, and if same is not
removed within ten days after he has issued such order, he may himself
cause its removal, and the sign, signboard, or billboard shall
thereupon be forfeited to the city, and the expenses incident to the
removal of the same shall become a lawful charge against any person or
property liable for the creation or display thereof.

ARTICLE IV
Department and Offices of the City

Section 16. City departments. — There shall be a
finance department, a law department, an engineering department, a
health department, a police department, a fire department, and an
assessment department. Unless otherwise provided by law, the mayor
shall have general supervisory control over all the city department.

Consistent with law, the Municipal, Board may from time to time make
such readjustment of the duties of the several departments as the
public interest may demand, and with the approval of the President, may
consolidate any department, division, or office of the city with any
other department, division or office.

Section 17. Powers and duties of heads of
departments. — Each head of department of the city government shall be
in control of such department and shall possess such powers as may be
prescribed herein or ordinance. He shall certify to the correctness of
all payrolls and vouchers of his department covering the payment the
money before payment, except as herein otherwise expressly provided. At
least four months before the beginning of each fiscal year, he shall
prepare and present to the Mayor an estimate of the appropriation
necessary for the operation of his department during the ensuing fiscal
year, and shall submit therewith such information for purposes of
comparison as the Mayor may desire. He shall submit to the Mayor as
often as required reports covering the operations of his department.

In case of the absence or sickness, or inability to act for any other
reason, of the head of one of the city departments, the officer next in
charge of that department shall act in his place with authority to sign
all necessary papers, vouchers, requisitions, and similar documents.

Section 18. Appointment and removal of officials and
employees. — The President of the Philippines shall appoint, with the
consent of the Commission on Appointments, the judge and auxiliary
judge of the municipal court, the city treasurer, the city attorney,
the city engineer, the city health officer, the chief of police, the
chief of the fire department, and the other heads of such city
departments as may be created. Said officers shall not be suspended or
removed except in the manner and for causes provided by law.

Section 19. Officers not to engage in certain
transaction. — It shall be unlawful of any city officer, directly or
indirectly, individually or as a member of a firm, to engage in any
business transaction with the city, or with any of its authorized
officials, boards, agents, or attorneys, whereby money is to be paid,
directly or indirectly, out of the resources of the city to such person
or firm; or to purchase any real estate or other property belonging to
the city, or which shall be sold for taxes or assessments, or by virtue
of legal process at the suit of the city; or to be surety for any
person having a contract or doing business with the city, for the
performance of which security may be required; or to be surety on the
official bond of any officer of the city.

Sec. 20. Statement of assets. — Before assuming
office, every official and regular employee of the city government
shall file in the office of the attorney a sworn statement of his
assets and property holding.

ARTICLE V
Finance Department

Sec. 21. The city treasurer — His powers, duties
and compensation. — There shall be a city treasurer, who shall have
charge of the department of finance and shall act as chief fiscal
officer and financial adviser of the city and custodian of its funds.
He shall receive a salary of not exceeding three thousand six hundred
pesos per annum. He shall have the following general powers and duties:

(a) He shall collect all taxes due the city, all
licenses authorized by law or ordinance, all rents due for lands,
markets, and other property owned by the city, all further charge, of
whatever nature fixed by law or ordinance, and shall receive and issue
receipt for all costs, fees, fines and forfeitures imposed by the
municipal court.

(b) He shall collect all miscellaneous charges made
by the engineering department and by the other departments of the city
of government, and all charges made by the city engineer for
inspections, permits, licenses, and the installations, maintenance, and
services rendered in the operation of the private privy system.

(c) He shall collect, as deputy of the Collector of
Internal Revenue, by himself or deputies, all taxes and charges imposed
by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines upon property or
persons in the city depositing daily such collections in any depository
bank of the Government.

(d) Unless otherwise specifically provided by law or
resolution, he shall perform in and for the city the duties imposed by
law or resolution upon provincial treasurers in general as well as the
other duties imposed upon him by law.

(e) He shall purchase and issue all supplies,
equipment or other property required by the city, through the
Purchasing Agent, or otherwise, as may be authorized, subject to the
general provisions of law relating thereto.

(f) He shall be accountable for all funds and
property of the city and shall render such accounts in connection
therewith as may be prescribed by the Auditor General.

(g) He shall deposit daily all municipal funds and
collections in any bank duly designated as Government depository.

(h) He shall disburse the funds of the city in a
accordance with duly authorized appropriations, upon properly executed
vouchers bearing the approval of the chief of the department concerned,
and on or before the twentieth day of each month he shall furnish the
Mayor and the Municipal Board for their administrative information a
statement of the appropriation, expenditures and balances of all funds
and accounts as of the last day of the month preceding.

ARTICLE VI
Law Department

Sec. 22. The city attorney — His powers and
duties. — The city attorney shall be the chief legal adviser of the
city. He shall receive a salary of not exceeding three thousand pesos
per annum. He shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) He shall represent the city in all civil cases
wherein the city or any officer thereof, in his official capacity, is a
party.

(b) He shall, when directed by the Mayor, institute
and prosecute in the city's interest a suit on any bond, lease or other
contract and upon any breach or violation thereof.

(c) He shall, when requested, attend meetings, of the
Board, draw ordinances, contracts, bonds, leases, and other instruments
involving any interest of the city, and inspect and pass upon any such
instrument already drawn.

(d) He shall give his opinion in writing, when
requested by the Mayor or the Board or any of the heads of the city
departments, upon any question relating to the city or the rights or
duties of any city officer thereof.

(e) He shall whenever it is brought to his knowledge
that any person, firm, or corporation holding or exercising any
franchise or public privilege from the city, has failed to comply with
any condition, or to pay any consideration mentioned in the grant of
such franchise or privilege, investigate or cause to be investigated
the same and report to the Mayor.

(f) He shall investigate all charges of crimes,
misdemeanors, and violations of laws and city ordinances and prepare
the necessary information or make the necessary complaints against the
persons accused. He may conduct such investigations by taking oral
evidence of reputed witnesses and for this purpose may, by subpoena, or
subpoena duces tecum summon witnesses to appear and testify under oath
before him, and the attendance or evidence of an absent or recalcitrant
witness may be enforced by application to the municipal court or the
Court of First Instance.

(g) He shall have charge of the prosecution of all
crimes, misdemeanors and violations of laws and city ordinances triable
in the Court of First Instance of Leyte and the municipal court of the
city, and shall discharge all the duties in respect to criminal
prosecutions enjoined by law upon provincial fiscals.

(h) He shall cause to be investigated the causes of
sudden deaths which have not satisfactorily explained and when there is
suspicion that the cause arose from play. For that purpose he may cause
autopsies to be made in case it is deemed necessary and shall be
entitled to demand and receive for the purpose of such investigations
or autopsies thed of the city health officer.

(i) He shall at all times render such professional
services as the Mayor or Board may require, and shall have such powers
and perform such duties as may be prescribed by law or
ordinance.

(j) He shall perform the duties prescribed by law for
register of deeds.

ARTICLE VII
Engineering Department

Sec. 23. The city engineer — His powers, duties
and compensation. — There shall be a city engineer, who shall be in
charge of the department of engineering and public works. He shall
receive a salary of not exceeding three thousand six hundred pesos per
annum. He shall have the following powers and duties:

(a) He shall have charge of all the surveying and
engineering work of the city, and shall perform such service in
connection with public improvements, or any work entered upon or
proposed by the city, or any department thereof as may require the
skill and experience of a civil engineer.

(b) He shall ascertain, record, and establish
monuments of the city survey and from thence extend the survey of the
city, and locate, establish, and survey all city property and also
private property abutting on the same, whenever directed by the Mayor.

(c) He shall prepare and submit plans, maps,
specifications, and estimates for buildings, streets, bridges, docks
and other public works, and supervise the construction and repair of
the same.

(d) He shall make such tests and inspection of
engineering materials used in construction and repair as may be
necessary to protect the city from the use of materials of a poor or
dangerous quality.

(e) He shall have the care of all public buildings,
when erected, including markets and slaughterhouses and all buildings
rented for city purposes, and of any system now or hereafter
established by the city or lighting the streets, public places, and
public buildings.

(f) He shall take inventory and have the care of all
public streets, parks, and bridges, and shall maintain, clean,
sprinkle, and regulate the use of the same for all purposes as provided
by ordinance; shall collect and dispose of all garbage, refuse, the
contents of closets, vaults, and cesspools, and all other offensive and
dangerous substances within the city.

(g) He shall have the care and custody of all public
docks, wharves, piers, levees, and landing places owned by the city.

(h) He shall prevent the encroachment of private
buildings and fences on the streets and public places of the city.

(i) He shall have general supervision and inspection
of all private docks, wharves, piers, levees, and landing places, and
other property bordering on the harbor, river, esteros, and waterways
of the city, and shall issue permits for the construction, repair or
removal of the same, and enforce all ordinances relating to the same.

(j) He shall have the care and custody of the public
system waterworks and sewers, and all sources of water supply, and
shall control, maintain, and regulate the use of the same, in
accordance with the ordinance relating thereto; shall inspect and
regulate the use of all private system for supplying water to the city
and its inhabitants, and all private sewers and their connections with
the public sewer system.

(k) He shall supervise the laying of mains and
connections for the purpose of supplying gas to the inhabitants of the
city.

(l) He shall inspect and report upon the conditions
of public property and public works whenever required by the Mayor.

(m) He shall supervise and regulate the location and
use of engines, boilers, forges, and other manufacturing and heating
appliances in accordance with law and ordinance relating thereto. He is
authorized to charge, at rates to be fixed by the Board with the
approval of the Department Head, for sanitation and transportation
services and supplies furnished by his department.

(n) He shall inspect and supervise the construction,
repair, removal, and safety of private buildings, and regulate and
enforce the numbering of houses, in accordance with the ordinances of
the city.

(o) With the previous approval of the Mayor in each
case, he shall order the removal of buildings and structures erected in
violation of the ordinances; shall order the removal of the materials
employed in the construction or repair of any building or structure
made in violation of said ordinances; and shall cause buildings or
structures dangerous to the public to be made secure or turn down.

(p) He shall file and preserve all maps, plans,
notes, surveys, and other papers and documents pertaining to his
office.

Sec. 24. Execution of authorized public works and
improvement. — All repair or construction of any work or public
improvement, except parks, boulevard, streets or alleys, involving an
estimated cost of three thousand pesos or more shall be awarded to the
lowest responsible bidder after public advertisement in the Official
Gazette and in a local newspaper of general circulation for not less
than ten days, by the Mayor upon the recommendation of the City
engineer: Provided, however, That the city engineer may, with the
approval of the President of the Philippines upon the recommendation of
the Secretary of Public Works and Communications, execute by
administration any such public work costing three thousand pesos or
more.

In the case of public works involving an expenditure of less than three
thousand pesos, it shall be discretionary with the city engineer, with
the approval of the Municipal Boards, either to proceed with the work
himself or to let the contract to the lowest bidder after such
publication and notice as shall be deemed appropriate or as may be
prescribed by regulations.

ARTICLE VIII
Health Department

Sec. 25. The city health officer — His salary,
powers and duties. — There shall be a city health officer who shall
have charge of the health department. He shall have a salary of not
exceeding three thousand six hundred pesos per annum. The city health
officer shall have the following general powers and duties.

(a) He shall have general supervision over the health
and sanitary conditions of the city.

(b) He shall execute and enforce all laws, ordinances
and regulations relating to the public health.

(c) He shall recommend to the Municipal Board of the
passage of such ordinance as he may deem necessary for the preservation
of the public health.

(d) He shall cause to be prosecuted all violations of
sanitary laws, ordinances, or regulations.

(e) He shall make sanitary inspections and may beded
therein by such members of the police force of the city or of the
national police as shall be designated as sanitary police by the chief
of police or proper national police officer and such sanitary inspector
as may be authorized by law.

(f) He shall keep a civil register for the city and
record there all births, marriages, and deaths with their respective
dates.

(g) He shall perform such other duties not repugnant
to law or ordinance, with reference to the health and sanitation of the
city as the Director of Health shall direct.

ARTICLE IX
Police Department

Sec. 26. The chief of police — His powers, duties
and compensation. — There shall be a chief of police who shall have
charge of the police department. He shall receive a salary of not
exceeding two thousand four hundred pesos per annum. He shall the
following general powers and duties:

(a) He may issue supplementary regulations not
incompatible with law or general regulations promulgated by the proper
department head of the National Government, in accordance with law, for
the governance of the city police and detective force.

(b) He shall quell riots, disorders, disturbances of
the peace, and shall arrest and prosecute through the City Attorney,
violators of any law or ordinance; shall exercise police supervision
over all land and water within the police jurisdiction of the city;
shall be charged with the protection of the rights of person and
property wherever found within the jurisdiction of the city, and shall
arrest when necessary to prevent the escape of the offender, violators,
of any law or ordinance, and all who obstruct or interfere with him in
the discharge of his duty; shall have charge of the city prison; and
shall be responsible for the safekeeping of all prisoners until they
shall be released from custody, in accordance with law, or delivered to
the warden of the proper prison or penitentiary.

(c) He may take good and sufficient bail for the
appearance before the judge of the municipal court of any person
arrested for violation of any city ordinance.

(d) He shall have authority within the police limits
of the city, to serve and execute criminal processes of any court.

(e) He shall be the deputy sheriff of the city, and
as such he shall, personally or by a representative, attend the
sessions of the municipal court, and shall execute promptly and
faithfully all writs and processes of said court.

(f) He shall have the other powers and perform such
other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.

Sec. 27. Chief of the secret service. — There
shall be a chief of the secret service who shall, under the chief of
police, have charge of the detective work of the department and of the
detective force of the city, and shall perform such other duties as may
be assigned to him by the chief of police or prescribed by law or
ordinance.

The chief of the secret service shall receive a salary of not exceeding
one thousand eight hundred pesos per annum.

Sec. 28. Peace officers — Their powers and duties.
— The Mayor, the chief of police, the chief of the secret service, and
all officers and members of the city police and detective force shall
be peace officers. Such peace officers are authorized to serve and
execute all processes of the municipal court and criminal processes of
all other courts to whomsoever directed, within the jurisdictional
limits of the city or within the police limits as hereinbefore defined;
within the same territory, to pursue and arrest, without warrant, any
person found in suspicious places or under suspicious circumstances
reasonably tending to show that such person has committed, or is about
to commit, any crime, or breach of the peace; to arrest or cause to be
arrested, without warrant, any offender when the offense is committed
in the presence of a peace officer or within his view; in such pursuit
or arrest to enter any building, ship, boat, or vessel, or take into
custody any person therein suspected of having participated in such
crime or breach of the peace, and any property suspected of having been
stolen and to exercise such other powers and perform such other duties
as may be prescribed by law or ordinance. They shall detain and arrest
a person only until he can be brought before the proper magistrate.
Whenever the Mayor shall deemed it necessary to avert danger or to
protect life and property, in case of riot, disturbance, or public
calamity, or when he has reason to fear any serious violation of law
and order, he may call upon the provincial commander or other members
of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

ARTICLE X
Fire Department

Sec. 29. Chief of fire department — His powers,
duties and compensation. — There shall be a chief of fire department
who shall have charge of said department. He shall receive a salary of
not exceeding two thousand four hundred pesos per annum. He shall have
the following general powers and duties:

(a) He may issue supplementary regulations not
incompatible with law or general regulations issued by the proper
department head of the National Government in accordance with law, for
the governance of the fire force.

(b) He shall have charge of the fire-engine houses,
fire-engines, hose, trucks, hooks and ladders, and all other fire
apparatus.

(c) He shall have full police powers in the vicinity
of fires.

(d) He shall have authority to remove or demolish any
building or other property whenever it shall become necessary to
prevent the spreading of fire or to protect adjacent property.

(e) He shall investigate and report to the Mayor upon
the origin and cause of all fires occurring within the city.

(f) He shall inspect all buildings erected or under
construction or repair within the city and determine whether they
provide sufficient protection against fire and comply with the
ordinance relating thereto.

(g) He shall have charge the city fire alarm service.

(h) He shall supervise and regulate the stringing,
grounding, and installation of wires for all electrical connections
with a view to avoiding conflagrations, interference with public
traffic or safety, or the necessary operation of the fire department.

(i) He shall supervise the manufacture, storage, and
use of petroleum, gas, acetylene, gunpowder, and other highly
combustible matter and explosives.

(j) He shall have such other powers and perform such
other duties as may be prescribed by law or ordinance.

ARTICLE XI
Assessment Department

Sec. 30. The city assessor — His powers and
duties. — The city assessor shall have charge of the department of
assessment. He shall receive a salary of not exceeding two thousand
four hundred pesos per annum. He and his authorized deputies are
empowered to administer any oath authorized in connection with the
valuation of real estate for the assessment and collection of taxes. He
shall make a list of the taxable real estate in the city, arranging in
the order of the lot and block numbers the names of the owners thereof,
with a brief description of the property opposite each such name and
the cash value thereof. In making this list, the city assessor shall
take into consideration any sworn statement made by the owners of the
property, but shall not be prevented thereby from considering other
evidence on the subject and exercising his own judgment in respect
thereto. For the purpose of completing this list, he and his
representatives may enter upon the real estate for the purpose of
examining and measuring it, and may summon witnesses, administer oaths
to them, and subject them to examination concerning the ownership and
the amount of real estate and its cash value. He may, if necessary,
examine the records of the Office of the Register of Deeds and of the
Office of the Provincial Treasurer in the Province of Leyte showing the
ownership of real estate in the city. The city treasurer shall act as
city assessor until the municipal board, by ordinance approved by the
Department Head, provides otherwise.

Sec. 31. Real estate exemption from taxation. —
The following shall be exempt from taxation:

(a) Lands or buildings owned by the Republic of the
Philippines, the Province of Leyte or the City of Tacloban, and burying
grounds, churches, and their adjacent parsonages and convents, and
lands or buildings used exclusively for religious, charitable,
scientific, or educational purposes, and not for profit; but such
exemption shall not extend to lands or buildings held for investment,
though income therefrom be devoted to religious, charitable,
scientific, or educational purposes.

(b) Lands or buildings which are the only real
property of the owner, and the value of which does not exceed two
hundred pesos.

(c) Machinery, which term shall embrace machines,
mechanical contrivances, instruments, appliances, and apparatus
attached to the real estate, used for industrial, agricultural or
manufacturing purposes, during the first five years of the operation of
the machinery.

Sec. 32. Declaration to be made by persons
acquiring or improving real estate. — It shall be the duty of each
person who, at any time, acquires real estate in the city, and of each
person who constructs or adds to any improvements on real estate owned
by him in the city, to prepare and present to the city assessor within
a period of sixty days next succeeding such acquisition, construction
or addition, a sworn declaration setting forth the value of the real
estate acquired or the improvement constructed or addition made by him
and a description of such property sufficient to enable the city
assessor readily to identify the same. Any person having acquired real
estate who fails to make and present the declaration herein required
within the said period of sixty days shall be deemed to have waived his
right to notice of the assessment of such property, and the assessment
of the same in the name of its former owner shall, in all such cases,
be valid and binding on all persons interested, and for all purposes,
as though the same has been assessed in the name of its present owner.

Sec. 33. Action when owner makes no returns or is
unknown, or ownership is in dispute or in doubt, or when land and
improvements are separately owned. — If the owner of any parcel of real
estate shall fail to make a return thereof, or if the city assessor is
unable to discover the owner of any real estate, he shall nevertheless
list the same for taxation, and charge the tax against the true owner,
if known, and if unknown then as against an unknown owner. In case of
doubt or dispute as to ownership of real estate, the taxes shall be
levied against the possessor or possessors thereof. When it shall
appear that there are separated owners of the land and the improvements
thereon, a separate assessment of the property of each shall be made.

Sec. 34. Action in case estate has escaped
taxation. — If it shall come to the knowledge of the knowledge of the
city assessor that any taxable real estate in the city has escaped
listing, it shall be his duty to list and value the same at the time
and in the manner provided in the next succeeding section and to charge
against the owner thereof the taxes due for the current year and the
last preceding one year, and the taxes thus assessed shall be legal and
collectible by all the remedies herein provided, and if the failure of
the city assessor to assess such taxes at the time when they should
have been assessed was due to any fault or negligence on the part of
the owner of such property, the penalties shall be added to such back
taxes as though they had been assessed at the time when they should
have been assessed.

Sec. 35. When assessment may be increased or
reduced. — The city assessor shall during the first fifteen days of
January of each year add to his list of taxable real estate in the city
the value of the improvements placed upon such property during the
preceding year, and any property which is taxable and which has
therefore escaped taxation. He may during the same period revise and
correct the assessed value of any or all parcels of real estate in the
city which are not assessed at their true money value, by reducing or
increasing the existing assessment as the case may be.

Sec. 36. Publication of complete list and
proceedings thereon. — The city assessor shall, after the list has been
completed, inform the public by notice published for seven days in a
newspaper of general circulation in the city, if any, and by notice
posted for seven days at the main entrance of the City Hall, that the
list is on file in his office and may be examined by any person
interested therein, and that upon the date fixed in the notice, which
shall not be later than the tenth day of February, the city assessor
will be in his office for the purpose of hearing complaints as to the
accuracy of the listing of the property and the assessed value thereof.
He shall further notify in writing each person the amount of whose tax
will be changed by such proposed revision, by delivering or mailing
such notification to such person or his authorized agent at the last
known address of said owner or agent in the Philippines, sometime in
the month of January. It shall be his duty carefully to preserve and
record in his office copies of said notice. On the day fixed in the
notice, and for five days thereafter, he shall be present in his office
to hear all complaints filed within the period by persons against whom
taxes have been assessed as owners of real estate, and he shall make
his decision forthwith and enter the same in a well bound book, to be
kept by him for that purpose, and if he shall determine that injustice
had been done or errors have been committed he is authorized to amend
the list in accordance with his findings.

Sec. 37. City assessor to authenticate list of
real estate assessed. — The city assessor shall authenticate each list
of real estate valued and assessed by him as soon as the same is
completed, by signing the following certificate at the foot
thereof:
"I hereby certify that the foregoing list contains a true statement of
the piece or pieces of taxable real estate belonging to each person
named in the list, and its true cash value, and that no real estate
taxable by law in the City of Tacloban has been omitted from the list,
according to the best of my knowledge and belief.

____________________________
(Signature)
City Assessor"

Sec. 38. Time and manner of appealing to Board of
Tax Appeals. — In case any owner of real estate, or his authorized
agent, shall feel aggrieved by any decision of the city assessor under
the preceding sections of this article, such owner or agent may, within
thirty days after the entry of such decision, appeal to the Board of
Tax Appeals. The appeal shall be perfected by filing a written notice
of the same with the city assessor and it shall be the duty of that
officer forthwith to transmit the appeal to the Board of Tax Appeals
with all the written evidence in his possession relating to such
assessment and valuation.

Sec. 39. Constitution and compensation of Board of
Tax Appeals. — There shall be a Board of Tax Appeals which shall be
composed of five members to be appointed by the President of the
Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments. Three
members of the Board shall be selected from among government officials
in the city other than those in charge of assessment and they shall
serve without additional compensation. The two other members shall be
selected from among property owners in the city and they shall each
receive a compensation of ten pesos for each day of session actually
attended. The chairman of the Board shall be designated in the
appointment and shall have the power to designate any city official or
employee to serve as the secretary of the board without additional
compensation.

The members of the Board of Tax Appeals shall be hold office for a term
of two years unless sooner removed by the President of the Philippines.

Sec. 40. Oath to be taken by members of the Board
of Tax Appeals. — Before organizing as such, the members of the Board
of Tax Appeals shall take the following oath before the municipal judge
or some other officer authorized to administer oaths:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will hear and determine well
and truly all matters and issues between taxpayers and the city
assessor submitted for may decision. So help me God. (In case of
affirmation the last four words to be taken out.)

_____________________________
(Signature)

Member of the Board of Tax Appeals

Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me this ____ day of
_______________, 19___.

_____________________________________
(Signature and title of officer administering Oath)"

Sec. 41. Proceedings before Board of Tax of
Appeals and the Department Head. — The Board of Tax Appeals shall hold
such number of sessions as may be authorized by the Secretary of
Finance, shall hear all appeals duly transmitted to it and shall decide
the same forthwith. It shall have authority to cause to be amended the
listing and valuation of the property in respect to which any appeal
has been perfected by order signed by the Board or a majority thereof,
and transmit it to the city assessor who shall amend the tax list in
conformity with said order. It shall also have power to revise and
correct, with the approval of the Secretary of Finance first had, any
and all erroneous or unjust assessments and valuations for taxation,
and make a correct and just assessment and state the true valuation, in
each case when it decides that the assessment previously made is
erroneous or unjust. The assessment when so corrected shall be as
lawful and valid for all purposes as though the assessment had been
made within the time herein prescribed. Such assessment and revaluation
shall be made on due notice to the individual concerned who shall be
entitled to be heard by the Board of Tax Appeals before any
reassessment or revaluation is made. The decision of the Board of Tax
Appeals shall be final unless the Department Head declares the decision
reopened for review by him, in which case he may make such revision or
revaluation as in his opinion the circumstances justify. Such revision
when approved by the President of the Philippines shall be final.

Sec. 42. Taxes on real estate — Extension and
remission of the tax. — A tax, the rate of which shall not exceed two
per centum ad valorem to be determined by the Municipal Board, shall be
levied annually on or before the second Monday of January on the
assessed value of all real estate in the city subject to taxation. All
taxes on real estate for any year shall be due and payable annually on
the first day of June and from this date such taxes together with all
penalties accruing thereto shall constitute a lien on the property
subject to such taxation.

Such lien shall be superior to other liens, mortgages or encumbrances
of any kind whatsoever; and shall be enforceable against the property
whether in the possession of the delinquent or any subsequent owner,
and can only be removed by the payment of the tax and penalty.

At the option of the taxpayer, the tax for any year may be paid in two
installments to be fixed annually by the Municipal Board simultaneously
with the rate per centum of ad valorem taxation: Provided, That the
time limit for the first and second installments shall be set at not
later than the thirty-first day of May and the thirtieth day of October
of each year, respectively.

Any person, who on the last day set for the payment of the real estate
tax as provided in the preceding paragraphs, shall be within the
premises of the City Hall willing and ready to pay the tax but is
unable to effect it on account of the large number of taxpayers therein
present, shall be furnished a property prescribed card which will
entitle him to pay the tax without penalty on the following day.

The words "paid under protest" shall be written upon the face of the
real estate tax receipts upon the request of any person willing to pay
the tax under protest. Confirmation in writing of an oral protest shall
be made within thirty days.

At the expiration of the time for the payment of the real estate tax
without penalty, the taxpayer shall be subject, from the first day of
delinquency, to the payment of a penalty at the rate of two per centum
for each full month of delinquency that has expired, on the amount of
original tax due, until the tax shall have been paid in full or until
the property shall have been forfeited to the city as provided in this
Act: Provided, That in no case shall the total penalty exceed
twenty-four per centum of the original tax due. In the event that the
crop is extensively damaged or that a great lowering of the prices of
products is registered in any year, or that a similar disaster extends
throughout the province, or for other good and sufficient reason, the
Municipal Board may, by resolution passed on or before the thirty-first
day of December of such year, extend the time for the collection of the
tax on real estate in the City of Tacloban for a period not to exceed
three months, or remit wholly or in part the payment of the tax or
penalty for the ensuing year, but such resolution shall have to specify
clearly the grounds for such extension or remission and shall not take
effect until it shall have been approved by the Department Head.

The President of the Philippines may, in his discretion, remit or
reduce the real estate taxes for any year in the city if he deems this
to be in the public interest.

Sec. 43. Seizure of the personal property for
delinquency in payment of the tax. — After a property shall have become
delinquent in the payment of taxes and said taxes and corresponding
penalties shall remain unpaid ninety days after payment thereof shall
have become due, the city treasurer, or his deputy, if he desires to
compel payment through seizure of any personal property of any
delinquent person or persons, shall issue a duly authenticated
certificate, based on the records of his office, showing the fact of
delinquency and the amount of the tax and penalty due from said
delinquent person or persons or from each of them. Such certificate
shall be sufficient warrant for the seizure of the personal property
belonging to the delinquent person or persons in question not exempt
from seizure; and those proceedings may be carried out by the city
treasurer, his deputy, or any other officer, authorized to carry out
legal proceedings.

Sec. 44. Personal property exempt from seizure and
sale for delinquency. — The following personal property shall be exempt
from seizure, sale and execution for delinquency in the payment of the
real estate tax:

(a) Tools and implements necessarily used by the
delinquent in his trade or employment.

(b) One horse, cow or carabao, or other beast of
burden, such as the delinquent may select, and necessarily used by him
in his ordinary occupation.

(c) His necessary clothing and that of his family.

(d) Household furniture and utensils necessary for
housekeeping and used for that purpose by the delinquent, such as he
may select of a value not exceeding one hundred pesos.

(e) Provisions for individual or family use
sufficient for four months.

(f) The professional libraries of lawyers, judges,
clergymen, physicians, engineers, schoolteachers, and music teachers,
not exceeding five hundred pesos in value.

(g) The fishing boat and net, not exceeding the total
value of one hundred pesos, the property of any fisherman, by the
lawful use of which he earns a livelihood.

(h) Any article or material which forms part of a
home or of any improvement on any real estate.

Sec. 45. The owner may redeem personal property
before sale. — The owner of the personal property seized may redeem the
same from the collecting officer at any time after seizure and before
sale by tendering to him the amount of the tax, the penalty, and the
costs incurred up to the time of tender. The costs to be charged in
making such seizure and sale shall only embrace to the actual expense
of seizure and preservation of the property pending the sale, and no
charge shall be imposed for the services of the collecting officer or
his deputy.

Sec. 46. Sale of seized personal property. —
Unless redeemed as hereinbefore provided, the property seized through
proceedings under section forty-three hereof, shall, after due
advertisement, be exhibited for sale at public auction and so much of
the same as shall satisfy the tax, penalty, and cost of seizure and
sale shall be sold to the highest bidder. The purchaser at such sale
shall acquire an indefeasible title to the property sold. The
advertisement shall state the time, place and cause of sale, and be
posted for ten days prior to the date of the auction, at the main
entrance of the City Hall and at a public and conspicuous place in the
district where the property was seized.

The sale shall take place, at the discretion of the city treasurer or
his deputy, either at the main entrance of the City Hall or at the
district where such property was seized. If no satisfactory bid is
offered in the aforementioned districts, another auction shall be had
upon notice published anew.

Sec. 47. Return of officer — Disposal of surplus.
— The officer directing the sale under the preceding section shall
forthwith make return of his proceedings, and note thereof shall be
made by the city treasurer upon his records. Any surplus resulting from
the sale, over and above the tax, penalty and cost, and any property
remaining in possession of the officer, shall be returned to the
taxpayer on account of whose delinquency the sale has been made.

Sec. 48. Vesting title to real estate in city
government. — Upon the expiration of one year from the date on which
the taxpayer became delinquent, and in the event of continued default
in the payment of the tax and penalty, all private rights, titles and
interest in and to the real estate on which said tax is delinquent,
shall be indefeasibly vested in the city government, subject only to
the rights of redemption and repurchase provided for herein below:
Provided, That the title acquired by said city government to real
estate shall not be superior to the title thereto of the original owner
prior to the seizure thereof.

Sec. 49. Redemption of real estate before seizure.
— At any time after the delinquency shall have occurred, but not after
the expiration of ninety days from the date of the publication of the
advertisement provided for in the next succeeding section, the owner or
his lawful representative, or any person having any lien, right, or any
other legal or equitable interest in said property, may pay the taxes
and penalties accrued and thus redeem the property. Such redemption
shall operate to divest the city government of its title to the
property in question and to revert the same to the original owner, but
when such redemption shall be made by a person other than the owner,
the payment shall constitute a lien on the property, and the person
making such payment shall be entitled to recover the same from the
original owner, or if he be a lessee, he may retain the amount of said
payment from the proceeds of any income due to the owner of such
property: Provided, That the person exercising the right of redemption
shall not acquire a title to said property better than that of the
original owner prior to the seizure.

Sec. 50. Notice of seizure of the real estate. —
Notice of the seizure of the real estate shall be given by posting
notices at the main entrance of the City Hall, the provincial building
and all the municipal buildings in the Province of Leyte, in English
and Spanish and in the dialect commonly used in the locality. A copy of
said notice shall also be posted on the property subject to seizure.
Such notices shall state the name of the delinquent persons, the date
on which such delinquency commenced, the amount of the taxes and
penalties then due from each, and shall state that unless such taxes
and penalties are paid within ninety days from the date of the
publication of such notice, the forfeiture of the delinquent real
estate to the city government shall become absolute.

Sec. 51. Ejectment of occupants of seized
property. — After the expiration of ninety days from the date of the
publication of the notice of delinquency provided for in the next
preceding section, the city treasurer, or his deputy, may issue to the
Mayor or to other officers authorized by law to execute and enforce the
laws a certificate describing the parcel of real estate on which the
taxes have been declared delinquent, stating the amount of taxes due,
and the penalties and costs accrued by reason of the delinquency, and
requesting him to eject from said property all the tenants and
occupants there. Upon receiving such certificate, the Mayor or any
other officer authorized to enforce the law, shall forthwith have all
the tenants and occupants who refuse to recognize the title to the city
expelled from the property in question, and to that end he may use in
the police force: Provided, however, That if the property so seized is
or includes, a residential home, the occupant thereof shall be given a
sufficient time not exceeding ten days from the date of the notice of
ejectment to vacate the premises.

Sec. 52. Redemption of real property before sale.
— After the title to the property shall have become vested in the city
government in the manner provided for in sections forty-eight and fifty
hereof, and at any time prior to the sale or execution of the contract
of sale by the city treasurer to a third party, the original owner or
his representative or any person having any lien, right or other
general interest or equity in said property, shall have the right to
redeem the entire property in question by paying the full amount of
taxes and penalties due thereon at the time of the seizure, and if the
city treasurer shall have entered into a lease of the property, the
redemption shall be made subject to said lease: Provided, That the
payment of the price of sale may at the discretion of the purchaser, be
made in installments, extending over a period not exceeding twelve
months, but the initial payment, which must be made on the date of the
filing of the application for redemption, and every subsequent payment,
shall not be less than twenty-five per centum of the entire sum due,
and shall in no case be less than two pesos, unless the total or the
balance of the amount due on all seized property in the name of the
taxpayer is less than two pesos. The purchaser may occupy the property
after paying the first installment, and the usual taxes on the property
shall be payable in the year after that in which the application for
redemption was approved. Any failure of the purchaser to pay any
installment on the date it is due shall have the effect of a forfeiture
to the city government of any partial payment made by said purchaser,
and in case he has taken possession of the property, he shall forthwith
surrender the same to the city government. In case the purchaser should
fail to relinquish possession of said property, the city treasurer or
his deputy shall forthwith adopt measures to eject therefrom all the
tenants or occupants thereof as provided for in this Act: Provided,
however, That the original owner of any real estate seized prior to the
approval of this Act, who redeems the same within six months subsequent
to its approval, is hereby released from any obligation he may have to
the Government for rent for the use of such property: Provided,
finally, That the provisions of this section shall apply to redemption
of real estate seized for delinquency in the payment of taxes thereon
and not redeemed up to the date of the approval of this Act.

Sec. 53. Notice of sale of real estate at public
auction. — At any time after the forfeiture of any real estate shall
have become absolute, the treasurer, pursuant to the rules of procedure
to be promulgated by the Department Head, may announce the sale of the
real estate seized on account of delinquency in the payment of taxes
thereon, for the redemption of which no application has been filed.
Such announcement shall be made by posting a notice for three
consecutive weeks at the main entrance of the City Hall and of all the
municipal buildings of the province, in either English or Spanish, and
in the dialect commonly used in the locality and by publishing the same
once a week during three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general
circulation in the city. Copies of such notice shall be sent
immediately by registered mail to the delinquent taxpayer at the
latter's home address, if known. The notice shall state the amount of
the taxes and penalties so due, the time and place of sale, the name of
the taxpayer against whom the taxes are levied, and approximate area,
the lot number and the location by district and street and the street
number and district or barrio where the real estate to be sold is
located.

Sec. 54. Sale of real estate — Conditions. — At
any time during the sale or prior thereto, the taxpayer may stay the
proceedings by paying the taxes and penalties to the city treasurer or
his deputy. Otherwise the sale shall proceed and shall be held either
at the main entrance of the City Hall or on the premises of the real
estate to be sold as the city treasurer or his deputy may determine.

The payment of the sale price may, at the option of the purchaser, be
made in installments covering a period not exceeding twelve months, but
the initial payment shall be made at the time of the sale, and each
subsequent payment shall not be less than twenty-five per centum of the
sale price, and shall in no case be less than two pesos. The purchaser
may occupy the property after paying the first installment, and the
usual taxes on the property shall be payable in the year following that
in which the sale took place. Any failure of the purchaser to pay the
total price of the sale within twelve months from the date thereof,
shall be sufficient ground for its cancellation, and any part payment
made shall revert to the city government and if the purchaser has taken
possession of the property he shall forthwith surrender the same to the
city government. In case the purchaser should fail to relinquish
possession of the property, the city treasurer or his deputy shall
immediately take steps to eject the tenants or occupants of the
property, in accordance with the procedure prescribed in section
fifty-one of this Act.

The city treasurer or his deputy shall make a report of the sale to the
Municipal Board within five days after the sale and shall make the same
appear on its records. The purchaser at this sale shall receive from
the city treasurer or his deputy a certificate showing the proceedings
of the sale, describing the property sold, stating the name of the
purchaser, the sale price, the condition of the payment, the amount
paid, and the exact amount of the taxes and penalties.

Sec. 55. Redemption of real estate after sale. —
Within one year from and after date of sale, the delinquent taxpayer or
any other person in his behalf, shall have the right to redeem the
property sold by paying to the city treasurer or his deputy the amount
of the taxes, penalties, costs and interest at the rate of twelve per
centum per annum on the purchase price, if paid in whole, or on any
portion thereof as may have been paid by the purchasers, and such
payment shall invalidate the certificate of sale issued to the
purchaser, if any, and shall entitle the person making such payment to
a certificate to be issued by the city treasurer or his deputy, stating
that he has thus redeemed the property, and the city treasurer or his
deputy, upon the return by the purchaser of the certificate of sale
previously issued to him, shall forthwith refund to the purchaser the
entire sum paid by him with interest at twelve per centum per annum, as
provided for herein, and such property shall thereafter be free from
the lien of such taxes and penalties.

Sec. 56. Execution of deed of final sale. — In
case the delinquent taxpayer shall not redeem the property sold as
herein provided within one year from the date of the sale, and the
purchaser shall then have paid the total purchase price, the city
treasurer, as grantor, shall execute a deed in form and effect
sufficient to convey to the purchaser so much of the real estate
against which the taxes have been assessed as has been sold, free from
all liens or encumbrances of any kind whatsoever, and said deed shall
succinctly recite all the proceedings upon which the validity of the
sale depends. Any balance remaining from the proceeds of the sale after
deducting the amount of the taxes and penalties due, and the cost, if
any, shall be returned to the original owner or his representatives.

Sec. 57. Taxes and penalties which shall be paid
upon redemption or repurchase. — The taxes and penalties to be paid by
way of redemption or repurchase, shall comprise in all cases only the
original tax by virtue of the failure to pay which the seizure was
made, and its incidental penalties, up to the date of the forfeiture of
the real estate to the Government.

Sec. 58. Taxes — Legal procedure. — (a) The
assessment of a tax shall constitute a lawful indebtedness of the
taxpayer to the city which may be enforced by a civil action in any
court of competent jurisdiction, and this by remedy shall be in
addition to all remedies provided by law.

(b) No court shall entertain any suit assailing the
validity of a tax assessed under this Charter until the taxpayer shall
have paid, under protest, the taxes assessed against him; nor shall any
court declare any tax invalid by reason of irregularities or
informalities in the proceedings of the officers charged with the
assessment or collection of the taxes or of a failure to perform their
duties within the time specified for their performance, unless such
irregularities, informalities, or failure shall have impaired the
substantial rights of the taxpayer.

(c) No court shall entertain any suit assailing the
validity of the tax sale of land under this Charter until the taxpayer
shall have paid into the court the amount for which the land was sold,
together with interest at the rate of fifteen per centum per annum upon
the sum from the date of sale to the time of instituting the suit. The
money so paid into court shall belong and shall be delivered to the
purchaser at the tax sale, if the deed is declared invalid, and shall
be returned to the depositor, should he fail in his action.

(d) No court shall declare any such sale invalid by
reason of any irregularities or informalities in the proceedings of the
officer charged with the duty of making the sale, or by reason of
failure by him to perform his duties within the time herein specified
for their performance, unless such irregularities, informalities, or
failure shall have impaired the substantial rights of the taxpayer.

ARTICLE XII
Tax Allotments and Special Assessment for Public Improvements

Sec. 59. Allotment of internal revenue and other
taxes. — Of the internal revenue accruing to the National Treasury
under Chapter II, Title XII of Commonwealth Act Numbered Four hundred
and sixty-six, and other taxes collected by the National Government and
allotted to the various provinces, as well as the nationald for
schools, the City of Tacloban shall receive a share equal to what it
would receive if it were a regularly organized province.

Sec. 60. Power to levy special assessments for
certain purposes. — The Municipal Board may, by ordinance, provide for
the levying and collection, by special assessment of the lands
comprised within the district or section of the city specially
benefited, of a part not to exceed sixty per centum of the cost of
laying out, opening, constructing, straightening, widening, extending,
grading, paving, curbing, walling, deepening, or otherwise
establishing, repairing, enlarging, or improving public avenues, roads,
streets, alleys, sidewalks, parks, plazas, bridges, landing places,
wharves, piers, docks, levees, reservoirs, waterworks, water mains,
watercourses, esteros, canals, drains and sewers, including the cost of
acquiring the necessary land and public improvements thereon, as
hereinafter provided.

In case of national public works the Municipal Board as an agency of
the National Government shall, when the President of the Philippines so
direct it, provide for the levying and collection by special assessment
of the lands within the section or district of the city specially
benefited of the cost or part thereof to be determined by the
President, of laying out, opening, constructing, straightening,
widening, extending, grading, paving, curbing, walling or deepening, or
otherwise, repairing, enlarging, or improving national roads and other
national public works within the city, including the cost of acquiring
the necessary land and improvements therein.

Sec. 61. Property subject to special assessment. —
All lands comprised within the district, or section benefited, except
those owned by the Republic of the Philippines shall be subject to the
payment of the special assessment.

Sec. 62. Basis of apportionment. — The amount of
the special assessment shall be apportioned and computed according to
the assessed valuations of such lands as shown in the books of the city
assessor. If the property has not been declared for taxation purposes,
the city assessor shall immediately declare it for the owner and assess
its value, and such value shall be the basis of the apportionment and
computation of the special assessment due thereon.

Sec. 63. Ordinance levying special assessment. —
The ordinance providing for the levying and collection of a special
assessment shall describe with reasonable accuracy the nature, extent,
and location of the work to be undertaken; the probable cost of the
work; the percentage of the cost to be defrayed by special assessment;
the district or section which shall be subject to the payment of the
special assessment the limits whereof shall be stated by metes and
bounds if practicable, and by other reasonable accurate means if
otherwise, and the period, which shall not be less than five nor more
than ten years, in which said special assessment shall be payable
without interest. One uniform rate per centum for all lands in the
entire district or section subject to the payment of all special
assessment need not be established, but different rates for different
parts or sections of the city according as said property will derive
greater or less benefit from the proposed work, may be fixed. It shall
be the duty of the city engineer to make the plans, specifications, and
estimates of the public work contemplated to be undertaken.

Sec. 64. Publication of proposed ordinance levying
special assessment. — The proposed special assessment ordinance shall
be published, with a list of the owners of the lands affected thereby,
once a week for four consecutive weeks in any newspaper published in
the city, one in English, one in Spanish, and one in the local dialect
if there be any, and in default of such local paper, in any newspaper
of general circulation in the city. The said ordinance in English,
Spanish, and the local dialect shall also be posted in places where
public notices are generally posted in the city and also in the
district or section where the public improvement is constructed or
contemplated to be constructed.

The secretary of the Municipal Board shall, on application, furnish a
copy of the proposed ordinance to each land owner affected, or his
agent, and shall, if possible, send to all of them a copy of said
proposed ordinance by ordinary mail or otherwise.

Sec. 65. Protest against special assessment. — Not
later than ten days after the last publication of the ordinance and
list of landowners, as provided in the preceding section, the
landowners affected, if they compose a majority and represent more than
one-half of the total assessed value of said lands, may file with the
Municipal Board a protest against the enactment of the ordinance. The
protest shall be duly signed by them and shall set forth the addresses
of the signers and the arguments in support of their objection or
protest against the special assessment established in the ordinance. If
no protest is filed within the time and under the condition above
specified, the ordinance shall be considered approved as published.

Sec. 66. Hearing of protest. — The Municipal Board
shall designate a date and place for the hearing of the protest filed
in accordance with the next preceding section and shall give reasonable
time to all protestants who have given their addresses and to all
landowners affected by any protest or protests, and shall order the
publication once a week, during two consecutive weeks, of a notice of
the place and date of the hearing in the same manner herein provided
for the publication of the proposed special assessment ordinance. All
pertinent arguments and evidence presented by the landowners interested
or their attorney shall be attached to the proper records. After the
hearing, the Municipal Board shall either modify its ordinance or
approve it in toto and send notice of its decision to all interested
parties who have given their addresses, and shall order the publication
of the ordinance as approved finally together with a list of the owners
of the parcels of land affected by the special assessment, three times
weekly, for two consecutive weeks, in the same manner hereinabove
prescribed. The ordinance finally passed by said body shall be sent to
the Mayor with all the papers pertaining thereto, for his approval or
veto as in the case of other city ordinance. If the Mayor approves it,
the ordinance shall be published as above provided, but if he vetoes
it, the procedure in similar cases provided in this Act shall be
observed.

Sec. 67. When ordinance is to take effect. — Upon
the expiration of thirty days from the date of the last publication of
the ordinance as finally approved, the same shall be effective in all
respects, if no appeal therefrom is taken to the proper authorities in
the manner hereinafter prescribed.

Sec. 68. Appeals. — Any time before the ordinance
providing for the levying and collection of special assessment becomes
effective in accordance with the preceding section, appeals from such
special assessment may be filed with the President of the Philippines,
in the case of the public works undertaken or contemplated to be
undertaken by the National Government, and with the Secretary of
Finance in the case public works undertaken or contemplated to be
undertaken by the city. In all cases the appeal shall be in writing and
signed by at least a majority of the owners of the lands situated in
the special assessment zone representing more than one-half of the
total assessed value of the lands affected. The appellant or appellants
shall immediately give the Board a written notice of the appeal, and
the secretary of said Board shall, within ten days after receipt of the
notice of appeal, forward to the officer who has jurisdiction to decide
the appeal an excerpt from the minutes of the Board relative to the
proposed special assessment and all the documents in connection
therewith.

Sec. 69. Decision of the appeal. — Only appeals
made within the time and in the manner prescribed in this Act shall be
entertained, and the officer to whom the appeal is made may call for
further hearing or decide the same in accordance with its merits as
shown in the papers or documents submitted to him. All appeals shall be
decided within sixty days after receipt by the appellate officer of the
docket of the case, and such decision shall be final.

Sec. 70. Fixing of amount of special assessment. —
As soon as the ordinance is in full force and effect, the city
treasurer shall determine the amount of the special assessment which
the owner of each parcel of land comprised within the zone described in
the ordinance levying the same is to pay each year during the
prescribed period, and shall send to each of such landowners a written
notice thereon by ordinary mail. If upon completion of the public works
it should appear that the actual cost thereof is smaller or greater
than the estimated cost, the city treasurer shall without delay proceed
to correct the assessment by increasing or decreasing, as the case may
be, the amount of the unpaid annual installments which are still to be
collected from each landowner affected, and, in all cases, he shall
give notice of such rectifications to the parties interested.

Sec. 71. Payment of special assessment. — All sums
due from any landowner or owners as the result of any action taken
pursuant to this Act shall be payable to the city treasurer in the same
manner as the annual ordinary tax levied upon real property, and shall
be subject to the same penalties for delinquency and be enforced by the
same means as said annual ordinary tax; and all said sums together with
any of said penalties shall, from the dates on which they are assessed,
constitute special liens on said land, with the sole exception of the
lien for non-payment of the ordinary real property tax. If, upon
recomputation of the amount of special assessment in accordance with
the next preceding section, it appears that the landowner has paid more
than what is correctly due from him, the amount paid in excess shall be
refunded to him immediately upon demand; in the other case, the
landowner shall have one year within which to pay without penalty the
amount still due from him. Said period shall be counted from the date
the landowner received the proper notice.

Sec. 72. Disposition of proceeds. — The proceeds
of the special assessment and penalties thereon shall be applied
exclusively to the purpose or purposes for which the assessments were
levied. It shall be the duty of the city treasurer to turn over to the
National Treasury all collections made by him from special assessment
levies from national public works.

ARTICLE XIII
City Budget

Sec. 73. Annual budget. — At least four months
before the beginning of each fiscal year, the city treasurer shall
present to the Mayor a certified detailed statement by department of
all receipts and expenditures of the city pertaining to the preceding
fiscal year, and to the first seven months of the current fiscal year
together with an estimate of the receipts and expenditures for the
remainder of the current fiscal year; and he shall submit with this
statement a detailed estimate of the revenues and receipts of the city
from all sources for the ensuing fiscal year. Upon the receipt of this
statement and estimate and the estimates of department heads as
required by section eighteen of this Charter, the Mayor shall formulate
and submit to the Municipal Board at least two and a half months before
the beginning of the ensuing fiscal year, a detailed budget covering
the estimated receipts and actual expenditures during the preceding
fiscal year, together with the necessary expenditure for the said
ensuing fiscal year, which shall be the basis of the annual
appropriation ordinance: Provided, however, That in no case shall the
aggregate amount of such appropriation exceed by the estimate of
revenues and receipts submitted by the city treasurer as provided above.

Sec. 74. Supplemental budget. — Supplemental
budget formulated in the same manner may be adopted when special
unforeseen circumstances make such action necessary.

Sec. 75. Failure to enact an appropriation
ordinance. — Whenever the Board fails to enact an appropriation
ordinance for any fiscal year before the end of the previous fiscal
year the several sums appropriated in the last appropriation ordinance
for the objects and purposes therein specified, so far as they may be
done, shall be deemed to be reappropriated, for the several objects and
purposes specified in said last appropriation ordinance, and shall go
into effect on the first day of the new fiscal year as the
appropriation ordinance for that year, until a new appropriation
ordinance is duly enacted.

ARTICLE XIV
The Municipal Court

Sec. 76. Regular, auxiliary and acting judges of
municipal courts. — There shall be a municipal court for the City of
Tacloban for which there shall be appointed a municipal judge and an
auxiliary municipal judge.

The municipal judge may, upon proper application be allowed a vacation
of not more than thirty days every year with salary. The auxiliary
municipal judge shall discharge the duties of the municipal judge in
case of absence, incapacity or inability of the latter until he assumes
his post, or until a new judge shall have been appointed. During his
incumbency the auxiliary municipal judge shall enjoy the powers,
emoluments and privileges of the municipal judge who shall not receive
any remuneration therefor except the salary to which he is entitled by
reason of his vacation provided for in this Act.

In case of absence, incapacity or inability, of both the municipal
judge and the auxiliary municipal judge, the Secretary of Justice shall
designate the justice of the peace of any of the adjoining
municipalities to preside over the municipal court, and he shall hold
the office temporarily until the regular incumbent or the auxiliary
judge thereof shall have resumed office or until another judge shall
have been appointed in accordance with the provisions of this Act. The
justice of the peace so designated shall receive his salary as justice
of the peace plus seventy-five per cent of the salary of the municipal
judge whose office he has temporarily assumed.

The municipal judge shall receive a salary of not exceeding three
thousand six hundred pesos per annum.

Sec. 77. Clerks and employees of the Municipal
Court. — There shall be a clerk of the municipal court who shall be
appointed by the municipal judge in accordance with Civil Service Law,
rules and regulations, and who shall receive a compensation to be fixed
by ordinance, approved by the Secretary of Justice, at not exceeding
one thousand two hundred pesos per annum. He shall keep the seal of the
court and affix it to all orders, judgments, certificates, records, and
other documents issued by the court. He shall keep a docket of the
trials in the court, in which he shall record in a summary manner the
names of the parties and the various proceedings in civil cases, and in
criminal cases, the name of the defendant, the charge against him, the
names of the witnesses, the date of the arrest, the appearance of the
defendant, together with the fines and costs adjudged or collected in
accordance with the judgment. He shall have the power to administer
oaths.

The clerk of the municipal court shall at the same time be sheriff to
the city and shall as such have the same powers and duties conferred by
existing law to provincial sheriffs. The municipal board may provide
for such number of clerks in the office of the clerk of the municipal
court as the needs of the service may demand.

Sec. 78. Jurisdiction of Municipal Court. — The
municipal court shall have the same jurisdiction in the civil and
criminal cases and the same incidental powers as at present conferred
upon them by law. It shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the Court
of First Instance over all criminal cases arising under the laws
relating to gambling and management of lotteries, to assaults where the
intent to kill is not charged or evident upon the trial, to larceny,
embezzlement and estafa where the amount of money or property stolen,
embezzled or otherwise involved does not exceed the sum or value of two
hundred pesos, to the sale of intoxicating liquors, to falsely
impersonating an officer, to malicious mischief, to trespass on
Government or private property, and to threatening to take human life.
It may also conduct preliminary investigation for any offense, without
regard to the limits of punishment, and may release, or commit and bind
over any person charged with such offense to secure his appearance
before the proper court.

Sec. 79. Incidental powers of Municipal Court. —
The municipal court shall have power to administer oaths and to give
certificates thereof, to issue summonses, writs, warrants, executions,
and all other processes necessary to enforce its orders and judgments,
to compel the attendance of witnesses; to punish contempt of court by
fine or imprisonment, or both, within the limitations imposed by law;
and to require of any person arrested a bond for good behavior or to
keep the peace, or for the further appearance of such person before a
court of competent jurisdiction. But no such bond shall be accepted
unless it be executed by the person in whose behalf it is made with
sufficient surety or sureties to be approved by said court.

Sec. 80. Procedure in Municipal Court in
prosecutions for violations of law and ordinances. — In a prosecution
for the violation of any ordinance, the first process shall be a
summon; except that a warrant for the arrest of the offender may be
issued in the first instance upon the affidavit of any person that such
ordinance has been violated, and that the person making the complaint
has reasonable grounds to believe that the party charged is guilty
thereof, which the warrant shall conclude: "Against the ordinances of
the city in such cases made and provided." All proceedings and
prosecutions for offenses against the laws of the Philippines shall
conform to the rules relating to process, pleadings, practice, and
procedure for the judiciary of the Philippines, and such rules shall
govern the municipal court and its officers in all cases insofar as the
same may be applicable.

Sec. 81. Cost, fees, fines and forfeitures in
Municipal Court. — There shall be taxed against and collected from the
defendant, in case of his conviction in the municipal court, such costs
and fees as may be prescribed by law in criminal cases in justice of
the peace courts. All costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures shall be
collected by the clerk of court, who shall keep a docket of those
imposed and of those collected, and shall pay collections of the same
to the city treasurer, for the benefit of the city, on the next
business day after the same are collected, and take receipts therefor.
The municipal judge shall examine said docket each day, compare the
same with the amount receipted for by the city treasurer and satisfy
himself that all such costs, fees, fines, and forfeitures have been
duly accounted for.

Sec. 82. No person sentenced by Municipal Court to
be confined without commitment. — No person shall be confined in prison
by sentence of the municipal court until the warden or officer in
charge of the prison shall receive a written commitment showing the
offense for which the prisoner was tried, the date of the trial, the
exact terms of the judgment or sentence, and the date of the order of
the commitment. The clerk shall, under seal of the court, issue such a
commitment in each case of sentence to imprisonment.

Sec. 83. Procedure on appeal from municipal court
to Court of First Instance. — An appeal shall lie to the Court of First
Instance in all cases where fine or imprisonment, or both, is imposed
by the municipal court. The party desiring to appeal shall, before six
o'clock post meridian of the fifteenth day after the rendition and
entry of the judgment by the municipal court, file with the clerk of
the court a written statement that he appeals to the Court of First
Instance. The filing of such statement shall perfect the appeal. The
judge of the court from whose decision appeal is taken shall, within
five days after the appeal is taken, transmit to the clerk of the Court
of First Instance a certified copy of the record of proceedings and all
the original papers and processes in the case. A perfected appeal shall
operate to vacate the judgment of the municipal court, and the action,
when duly entered in the Court of First Instance, shall stand for trial
de novo upon its merits as though the same had never been tried.
Pending an appeal, the defendant shall remain in custody unless
released in the discretion of the judge of the municipal court or of
the judge of the Court of First Instance, upon sufficient bail in
accordance with the procedure in force, to await the judgment of the
appellate court.

Appeals in civil cases shall be governed by the ordinary procedure
established by law.

ARTICLE XV
Bureaus Performing Municipal Duties

Sec. 84. Auditing Office — City Auditor. — The
city auditor, under the supervision of the Auditor General, shall
receive and audit all accounts of the city, in accordance with the
provisions of law relating to government accounts and accounting. He
shall be appointed by the Auditor General and shall receive a salary of
three thousand pesos per annum, payable from the funds of the city.

Sec. 85. The Register of Deeds of the Province of
Leyte as City Register of deeds of the City of Tacloban. — The Register
of Deeds of the Province of Leyte shall act as City Register of Deeds
ex officio of the City of Tacloban with an additional compensation not
exceeding thirty per cent of his basic salary payable from the funds of
the city.

Sec. 86. The Division of Purchase and Supply. —
The purchasing agent shall purchase and supply in accordance with law
all supplies, equipment, materials, and property of every kind, except
real estate for the use of the city and its departments and offices.
But contracts for completed work of any kind for the use of the city,
or any of its departments or offices, involving both labor and
materials, where the materials, are furnished by the contractor shall
not be deemed to be within the purview of this section.

Sec. 87. The Bureau of Public Schools. — The
Director of the Bureau of Public School, shall exercise the same
jurisdiction and power in the city as elsewhere in the Philippines and
the division superintendent of schools for the Province of Leyte shall
have all the powers and duties in respect to the schools of the city as
are vested in division superintendents in respect to schools of their
divisions.

A city school board of six members, two of whom shall be women and who
shall serve without salary, shall be selected and removed in the same
manner, and shall have the powers and duties, as local school boards in
the municipalities. The division superintendent of schools shall be ex
officio chairman of the school board.

The Municipal Board shall have the same powers in respect to the
establishment of schools as are conferred by law on municipal councils.

Sec. 88. Reports to the Mayor concerning schools —
Construction and custody of school buildings. — The division
superintendent of schools shall make a quarterly report of the
condition of the schools and school buildings of the City of Tacloban
to the Mayor, and such recommendations as seem to him wise in respect
to the number of teachers, their salaries, new buildings to be erected,
and all other similar matters, together with the amount of city
revenues which should be expended in paying teachers, and improving the
schools or school buildings of the city. The city school board shall
make a similar annual report to the Mayor.

ARTICLE XVI
Transitory Provisions

Sec. 89. Change of government. — The city
government provided for in this Charter shall be organized on such a
date as may be fixed by the President of the Philippines.

The incumbent Mayor, Vice-mayor and members of the Municipal Council of
the Municipality of Tacloban shall continue in office as the Mayor,
Vice-mayor and members of the Municipal Board of the City,
respectively, until the expiration of their present terms of office.

Sec. 90. Election of Provincial Governor and
members of the Provincial Board of the Province of Leyte. — The voters
of the City of Tacloban shall be qualified and entitled to vote in the
election of the Provincial Governor and the members of the Provincial
Board of the Province of Leyte.

Sec. 91. Representative District. — Until
otherwise provided by law, the City of Tacloban shall continue as part
of the fourth representative district of the Province of Leyte.

Sec. 92. Provincial capital. — The City of
Tacloban shall continue to be the capital of the Province of Leyte and
the seat of the government of the said province, until otherwise
provided.